Chapter 173
My Very Own Monster (僕の怪人, Boku no Kaijin) is the 173rd chapter of the Golden Kamuy manga. Synopsis In the Lake Akan area, a young boy is being bullied by some of the older children due to his rich heritage, as they try to force him to eat a marimo. The boy thinks marimo is a food that poor people eats, which causes the older children to get angry and ties him up to a tree branch. As the boy screams for help, Ushiyama approaches him but quickly leaves when he gets hungry. The boy calls out to him, saying that he will give him some dried peaches if he untie him. After eating the dried peaches, Ushiyama grabs the branch that the boy is tied to and rips it off, much to the boy's amazement. Back on his own two feet, the boy thanks Ushiyama and introduces himself as Chiyotarou. Ushiyama, still not in his right mind from the poison utters "obencho" and Chiyotarou thinks it is his name. He offers to give Ushiyama some more dried peaches in exchange for him becoming his henchman. Chiyotarou then climbs up onto Ushiyama's shoulders and proudly declares his new henchman "Obencho, the Mysterous Monster". Elsewhere, as he looks over Hijikata's unconscious body, Sekiya lists all of his life accomplishments and wonders if that is all his destiny amounts to. He goes to check on Ushiyama only to find that his casket is empty. Sekiya is shocked that Ushiyama was able to escape but notes that it has been several hours, and that Hijikata's companions would've rescued him by now. He states that the poison that he gave to Ushiyama shouldn't wear off for another 12 hours and doubts that Ushiyama should have any memories of his location. Chiyotarou brings some more food to Ushiyama who had made his home within a tree since Chiyotarou cannot bring him to his own house. He then offers to take Ushiyama ice skating, promising to teach him how to skate. Meanwhile at an inn, Kadokura is woken up by the inn's proprietress and given a sword and a note left for him by Sekiya. Kadokura calls out for Nagakura but Kirawus informs him that Nagakura has become fed up with him and decides to search for Hijikata by himself. Kadokura reads the letter and finds that Sekiya has demanded all of their tattooed skins in exchange for Hijikata's safety. Kirawus is unsure if Hijikata still lives, but Kadokura says that this method is something that Sekiya has used over and over again. Since Nagakura is in possession of their tattooed skins, Kadokura decides to go ahead and meet up with Sekiya since they have no time to look for Nagakura. On Lake Akan, Chiyotarou is teaching Ushiyama how to ice skate when the bullies appears behind him, threatening to force feed him some more marimo. Chiyotarou introduced Ushiyama to them but the bullies aren't fazed and attempts to throw a marimo at them. However, Ushiyama violently lashes out at them, much to Chiyotarou's horror. He is able to calm Ushiyama down with some dried peaches and as the bullies run away, Chiyotarou ponders what to do with Ushiyama since he is too dangerous to be around with. Character Appearances *Tatsuma Ushiyama *Chiyotarou *Toshizou Hijikata *Waichirou Sekiya *Kadokura *Kirawus *Shinpachi Nagakura Trivia The cover page is a reference to the 1999 American animated film The Iron Giant by Brad Bird. Category:Chapters